This is the famous photograph of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the world-renowned British engineer who revolutionized both the railroad and shipping industries. He achieved many firsts in engineering including the design of the SS Great Eastern, by far the largest steamship ever built at the time…
Posts tagged as “Gregory Pettys”
The California gold rush began in 1848 and people from all over the United States rushed to California in search of gold. Some traveled the difficult overland route, but many made the voyage on ships around Cape Horn to the West Coast. After dropping off…
The wreck of the S.S. Valencia off the west coast of Vancouver Island in 1906 is one of the worst maritime disasters along this dangerous stretch of coast, known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. The sinking resulted in the deaths of approximately 136 passengers…
There are a few places along the New England shore in winter where the only sounds you’ll hear are the cry of gulls and the only footprints you’ll see are your own. One of these places is Watch Hill, Rhode Island in the off-season, the…
During the age of steam, the steamboats of Long Island Sound, transporting people to and from New York and the cities in New England, had developed into large, elegant vessels. These large and beautiful floating palaces, flags flying, boasted the latest in service and luxury…
The first I read about Sir Ernest Shackleton’s daring exploits was in the 1959 book Endurance, a New York Times best-seller, by Alfred Lansing. My mother, an avid reader said, “Greg, you must read this book. It’s a fantastic story,” and she was right.The book…
The old schooner sat at the pier forlorn and tired with two soldiers holding M1 rifles at the ready, guarding her. The town of Newport, Rhode Island was all abuzz with rumors, “What’s going on down at the dock? Did you see the soldiers? What…
There is an expression, “Wooden ships and iron men.” The expression came from a book of poetry published in 1933 by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet titled Clipper Ships and Captains.There was a time before our time,It will not come again,When the best ships still…
Of the many ships that have been run aground off the coast of Rhode Island the story of the tanker Swiftstar has to be one of the most unusual. She was not unusual because of her design or her being stranded, in which she was…
The navigation markers on the Mystic River in Connecticut appear like apparitions out of the thick fog. They’re the only indication of where we’re going and where the channel is. The brightly colored screen of the chartplotter shows our position and heading. Fog has probably…